Household heat pumps.

[LeRich]

Heat pumps are only effective in houses that are very insulated and don't suffer the extremes of temperature fluctuation that most domestic properties in this country do.

This new government incentive is knee-jerk and doesn't pay full consideration to the greater issue of poor insulation. This is possibly deliberate to avoid giving positive attention to the Insulate Britain protest campaign.

[planenut]

Sometimes politicians have to make promises they cannot achieve, I hate to say that as they have what to me is an unenviable task. How long will they be in power and whether the promised support arrives, all affect the outcome.

27.4 million households, what percentage are houses? Flats won't come into it and many of those households will not be able to afford, regardless of support, any outlay.

But, don't worry because twenty years down the line there will be further scientific developments to supersede this idea.

Cynic I am.I will be okay until they ban Whisky .

[SCP440]

Maybe they are hoping global warming will mean we wont need to heat our houses in a few years time

Joking aside Hydrogen for our houses would be a better option, the pipework is already in place and I suspect all that would need doing is a kit to modify our appliances to burn a different substance.

Eventually Hydrogen could be used in a more efficient way.

What ever they do I suspect they will find a way of making it more expensive if that is by purchase or to run.

[Kroll]

Originally Posted by macafee2

I heard that too but how on earth did whom ever work out it would only help 90,000 homes?

macafee2

I presume that’s all that’s been budgeted for. It’s a token gesture at best, and my guess is their trying to create a green buzz before the big COP conference thing.

As others have said, heat pumps don’t really suit our housing stock in this country.

Personally think our focus should be on insulation and investment in clean energy for electricity, be that renewable or Nuclear.

We’re gonna need a lot more supply to meet demand for electric cars after all.

[mileshawk56]

I dont understand the insulation thing, back when Tony Blair(remember him)? was in charge there where insulation organizations going round insulating for free all over the country,they did my house and Ive got about 12-18" of insulation on top of 4" already there on top of a boarded loft then 6 months later they came and pumped some stuff into the cavity walls. I cant believe I was the only person in Reading ? Are these heat pumps going to be another Diesel Gate? What do you think? Chris S.

[TourerSteve]

Interesting point that seems to get overlooked (possibly intentionally)
With heat pumps being a refrigeration system you have other environmental potentials with the refrigerants should you encounter system leaks .
Refrigerants like R410-A are not ozone depleting like older refrigerants but have Global warming Potential which is appreciably worse than CO2
Turning the compressor will need motors in the KW's and are going to be energy hungry Even though electricity is termed as green it still has to be generated and as seen from this year during August, with no wind and plenty cloud , we had reliance on hydrocarbon electric generation .
I fear we are a long way off sustainable green energy and our government seem to be putting all our eggs in one basket by pushing every thing electric on an infrastructure that is creaking now

[Lancpudn]

From what I've been reading the trouble with gas now is a lot of countries signed up to the Paris accord & especially in south east Asia are closing their coal fired power stations & changing them to run on gas. South Korea have just announced they're closing 30 coal fired power stations by the end of the decade & converting them into gas fired for the interim before they transition to renewable hence the gas markets being subject to higher prices due to supply & demand.
Electricity producers & top companies want an end to gas fired power plants too so as not to be subject to this volatile market, I doubt the price of gas will ever be the same again.


Edit:Forgot to mention Since buildings were included in the ETS (emission trading system) they now have a 'Carbon Pricing' tax if they're heated/cooled by fossil fuel's supplied by your energy provider.


China has been buying every shipload of gas it can get it's hands on along with it's neighbours, Since the beginning of the year the gas market has grown exponentially hence the 250% price rise because of the move away from coal fired power stations, The EU/UK have no control over the global gas market and are subject to the volatile price rises.

[edwardmk]

Originally Posted by TourerSteve

Interesting point that seems to get overlooked (possibly intentionally)
With heat pumps being a refrigeration system you have other environmental potentials with the refrigerants should you encounter system leaks .
Refrigerants like R410-A are not ozone depleting like older refrigerants but have Global warming Potential which is appreciably worse than CO2
Turning the compressor will need motors in the KW's and are going to be energy hungry Even though electricity is termed as green it still has to be generated and as seen from this year during August, with no wind and plenty cloud , we had reliance on hydrocarbon electric generation .
I fear we are a long way off sustainable green energy and our government seem to be putting all our eggs in one basket by pushing every thing electric on an infrastructure that is creaking now

The future will need nuclear reactors of some kind to bridge the enormous gap between what renewables can actually deliver and burgeoning demand due to electric vehicles, electric heat pumps, electric everything apparently. Could be more small modular nuclear reactors such as in nuclear subs. The 'Holy Grail' would be fusion power, clean electricity to electrolyse water and produce hydrogen or charge batteries. Wonder if there will ever be battery/supercapacitor hybrids. Lots to look forwards to

[MSS]

As an alternative, but less positive, scenario the masses will die as a result of regular flooding, heatwaves, food shortages due to the above, and wars over scarce natural resources. A small percentage of humans, those with wealth to protect them from the shortages and natural disasters, will survive.

I don't believe we can or should take a positive future for mankind for granted.

[planenut]

Originally Posted by MSS

As an alternative, but less positive, scenario the masses will die as a result of regular flooding, heatwaves, food shortages due to the above, and wars over scarce natural resources. A small percentage of humans, those with wealth to protect them from the shortages and natural disasters, will survive.

I don't believe we can or should take a positive future for mankind for granted.

Do you suggest everything is put on hold due to the inevitable?